How should Catholics study the Bible?
I recently got an email asking me some great questions regarding the proper way for Catholics to study the Bible. I thought I’d share the questions and my answers publicly:
I was reading your blog on Modern Myths about Catholics and Bible Reading.
If Mass is not the place for Bible study and you find small groups to be ripe for abuse, how do you study scripture, by yourself? Is appreciation of scripture different from study? What do you mean when you say there are the boundaries of the Catholic faith that order your appreciation of scripture?
It is true that Mass should not be the place for “Bible study”, and that I have a low opinion of most “small group” Bible studies out there. So how should a Catholic study the Bible? And as the questioner so astutely asked, is appreciation of Scripture different from study?
The primary way that a Catholic should study – and appreciate – the Scriptures is regular attendance at Mass. But wait a minute, didn’t I say that Mass was not the proper place for Bible study? Yes, but my statements are not contradictory. Mass is not the place for Bible study in that it is not appropriate to use a homily to minutely explore the technical details of a passage – the setting it was written in, the original audience, the form of the text, etc. These things might be mentioned in passing, but they should not be the focus of the homily. Instead the Church asks the priest or deacon to use the homily to apply the Biblical passage to the life of the congregation.
The reading of Scripture at Mass is the primary usage of Scripture; in fact, I would say that it is why the Scriptural books were written in the first place. In the early Church, the debate over the canon (i.e. which writings were to be included in the Bible) was really a debate about which writings were to be read during Mass. Furthermore, many, if not most, of the New Testament writings were written to be originally read at Mass. When Paul wrote a letter to a community, he intended it to be read to the whole church of a particular area. And when would that be read? During the only time the local church gathered – at Mass. So Paul (and the other NT authors) wrote their writings with the intention that they be read at Mass – that is their primary usage. So to really understand the Scriptural books, we too need to hear them in Mass. This liturgical context keeps us in the “boundaries”, so to speak, of the original authors, and keeps us from going off into illicit interpretations and flights of fancy.
And hearing the Word of God proclaimed at Mass is the best way to grow in appreciation of it. The Sacred Scriptures were not written to be dissected in a classroom – they were written to be lived. And hearing them proclaimed in their original setting – the Mass – is the best way to appreciate that living dynamic of the Sacred Text.
Thus, the foundation for understanding the Bible is to hear it within the worshiping Body of Christ. This must be the starting point for any understanding – and appreciation – of the Sacred Text. But is this the only way that Catholics can study the Bible? No; as followers of Jesus, the incarnate Word of God, we need to really dive into the inspired Word of God to better know and love Jesus. So we should take every opportunity outside of Mass to study the Scriptures as well.
What then are some practical ways for the Catholic to study Scripture? It is important, first of all, to remember that the Bible is a collection of ancient texts written in cultures that are widely divergent from our own. One cannot just pick up the Iliad and expect to understand it completely. Likewise, one cannot pick up the Bible and expect to comprehend the Sacred Text immediately. We need guides. The ideal situation would be to be involved in a Bible study led by a priest; i.e. someone who has been trained by the Church to know the Bible and its relationship to the Church. But of course this is not usually possible. Another possibility is to be in a small group that is led by someone who has formally studied the Bible is a faithfully Catholic academic environment, such as Franciscan University of Steubenville or Christendom College or other such school. Better yet, take classes yourself at one of these schools (many offer distance learning classes). But I would not recommend being in a small group Bible study led by someone with no formal training, or even worse, a small group with no leader at all. Too often such groups turn into discussions of “what do you think it means?” with no concrete study of the text.
If none of these possibilities exist, there are some good study guides available that can be used for individual study. Some I recommend highly are the Navarre Bible, the Ignatius Study Bible and the Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture. All of these understand the proper place for the Bible in the life of the Church and so can be useful for learning the Scriptures. (I would also be remiss not to mention that my own upcoming book – Who is Jesus Christ? Unlocking the Mystery in the Gospel of Matthew - is intended to help Catholics to understand the person of Jesus as represented in the Gospel of Matthew, so it will hopefully be of some use as well).
As Catholics, we need to be immersed in the Scriptures as much as possible. Fortunately this can be done primarily just by going to Mass. But for those who are able, there are many other opportunities to appreciate and study the Sacred Text, and we should take advantage of them whenever we can.
St. Jerome, pray for us!
Since you mentioned the Navarre Bible I have a question. There are three different versions of the Navarre New Testament (for instance). They all have similar descriptions, and range in price from $80 (single volume hard cover) to $215 (12 volume paperback). Are they the same content packaged differently? Is one more complete than the other?
Mike,
The different versions of the Navarre bible can be quite confusing. As I understand it, there are four “versions” of their NT:
1) There is the original twelve-volume paperback set that came out in the 1980′s and 1990′s.
2) This twelve-volume set was later published into three hardback volumes, with the same content.
3) They also published a one-volume “compact edition” that came out in 2001 that contains the whole NT with a new commentary, but is much shorter than the original 12-volume set.
4) Finally, they recently published a one-volume “expanded edition” which also has new commentary, has many more references to the Catechism, and is of greater depth than the compact edition.
You can see the various versions at Scepter Publishers. Just click on the Navarre Bibles link on the left.
I would like to recommend that Catholics use the Bible for Lectio Divina, Sacred Reading. This is the contemplative approach that uses sacred scripture for prayer and definitely leads to deepening our communion with God and others. I recommend the book, Sacred Reading: the Ancient Art of Lectio Divinaby Michael Casey, a Cistercian monk. He covers topics like its theological basis, levels of meaning, and how to do it.
Ruth Ann,
I’m quite embarrassed that I wrote a whole post about Catholics reading the Bible and never mentioned Lectio Divina! Thank you for correcting my oversight.
Very interesting post. As an additional suggestion for a commentary, I’d recommend the Church’s Bible series from Eerdman’s (Gen. Editor is Robert Louis Wilken). They only have three volumes out thus far, but they’re all excellent and easy to get from Amazon.
Now I’m (unsurprisingly) going to be argumentative for a moment:
1). If we take it that the NT books were meant to be read in the context of the liturgy, how do we reconcile that with our present lectionary? We never read through an entire book of the NT at Sunday mass; even if you attend every weekday mass, the only book you will hear in its entirety is 1 John (although Mark comes pretty close). And daily mass is simply not (and not necessarily meant to be) a norm for most Catholics. Doesn’t this excerpting create some serious problems in comprehending the NT books (as you yank the lectionary readings out of their surrounding context)? Surely St. Paul meant for the Ephesians to read the whole letter? If not at once, than at least in sequence over several sessions?
2). I’m having a hard time squaring your account of what the role of scripture, as embedded in the liturgy, is supposed to do (set boundaries, provide a living dynamic) with my actual experience of it, which is far more variable and less uplifting. Doubtless you are presenting the ideal here, but still. I would suggest that the liturgy itself has to be in a healthy state for it to accomplish these things; I don’t know whether or not you’d agree with me. I’d also suggest that there is (consequently?) ample room in a Catholic’s life for private reading, meditation, and study; I am very sure you’d agree with me there.
Why not encourage the use of the Liturgy of the Hours? Not everyone can conveniently attend daily Mass, but almost everyone can pray one or more of the daily offices even with a busy schedule. You get a huge dose of scripture if you include the Office of Readings in your schedule (perfect for lunchtime, by the way).
Dean,
We don’t live in the oral culture that the first Christians did, so of course it would be difficult to read an entire NT book in the context of Mass today. I don’t think that is a major problem, however, as the current lectionary does a very good job of hitting the highlights and going through a lot in a three-year cycle (a much better job than the pre-Vatican II lectionary, to be honest). And since the Sunday lectionary is not connected to the daily lectionary, just going to Sunday Mass will still hit all the high points of Scripture.
I think the Mass, however it is celebrated, does a better job of establishing boundaries than you think. Compare it to getting Bible lessons at the local “para-church” or nondenominational church. There are literally no boundaries there and it shows. But even in a wacky Catholic parish, you basically stay within the bounds of the Church, even if the emphasis is skewed at times. Yes, it is better if the priest is completely faithful and orthodox, but having that direct connection between the liturgical proclamation of the Word and the reception of the Eucharist is quite powerful, regardless of inadequacies of the presiding priest.
Bill,
Another great idea. Obviously, hearing the Word of God in Mass is superior and is the original setting of Scripture, but the Liturgy of the Hours is a great way to dive into the Scriptures. I pray them myself and find them quite beneficial to my own understanding of the Bible.
One who understands well the Deposit of Faith will understand satisfactorily Sacred Scripture; for Sacred Scripture is a portion of the Deposit of Faith “expressed in a special way” (see CCC, Paras. 77 & 81 and Dei Verbum, 11). That is to say, the main criterion for leading a Bible study class is an accurate knowledge of the Deposit of Faith as explained by the Magisterium. Perhaps the blog entry means something similar to this statement with the phrase “know[ing] the Bible and its relationship to the Church.” Unfortunately, finding a suitable Scripture study leader is not as simple as involving a priest or Catholic college graduate, for priests or graduates may not necessarily possess this knowledge. Many of them, in fact, do not possess it.
The usefulness of the Catechism, especially of the de luxe version containing the index of Scriptural citations, to studying the Bible should be clear from the paragraph above. One should also not underestimate the value of commentaries on books of the Bible by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. These commentaries, it is true, can seem foreign and unhelpful to the modern student in so far as they generally strive more to explain the allegorical and anagogical senses of Scripture than its relevance to daily living. They, nonetheless, unfailingly uncover the timeless truths of the Faith contained in the Sacred Page. Aquinas has collected some of the better parts of the Patristic commentaries on the Gospels in his Catena Aurea, which is available in translation from Preserving Christian Publications.
Eric,
As a leader of a Bible study group I understand and back up what you say.
I am not formally trained nor am I anything of an expert on Biblical scholarship.
With that said I compensate this by utilizing both the Navarre Bible and the Ignatius Study Bible, in addition to the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
Recently, after four years, I have come to realize that I was in no way prepared to lead a Bible study group, but with time I gained experience.
With this knowledge I now have great difficulty in finding a replacement for me to lead this particular group because of what is needed in a Bible study leader, ie, a priest (which I am not).
Anyways, I’ve learned now to utilize CCSS and lectio divina!
In Jesus, Mary, & Joseph,
Tito